‘”City and county officials, however, say that new developments have been required to offset their potential flood impact since the mid-1980s. “We’ve been closely following the effects of the mitigation and any changes in the watershed since the criteria went into place, and so, when we get a major rainfall event, we go back and analyze it with those computer simulations to make sure that the watershed is responding the way we’d expected it to. And what we’re seeing is that absolutely the mitigation that’s being done with new development is producing the exact results that are expected,” Harris County Flood Control District Executive Director Mike Talbott said, not specifically referring to lawsuit. “We’re not seeing a worsening of the flood conditions.”

Newly appointed city flood czar Steve Costello echoed Talbott. “It’s easy to point at change,” Costello told the Houston Chronicle last week, also speaking broadly. “It’s natural for someone who’s not familiar with what I do for a living to say, ‘Hey, they built that, and I got flooded.’ It’s natural for that to happen. … We’ve got to do a better job of convincing the public that we’re addressing these issues, which we haven’t done in the past.”‘

While there are many well documented examples that show the comments are incorrect in our neighborhood, we’ve chosen one that clearly shows lots of permeable ground that’s been covered in concrete. More importantly, the entire properties have been elevated significantly. These are in the Braes Bayou watershed just across from Arthur Storey Park with its 1800 acre-foot detention pond, yet the intersection at Beltway and Bellaire is often flooded in heavy rains.

In September, 2002, the cows were gone from these pastures at Beltway and Bellaire, but they were still permeable and at curb level with the street.

Today these are thriving shopping centers on both sides of Bellaire at Beltway. They are elevated by 1-4 feet and are 100% concrete with no detention.

Mike Talbot says that they have required detention since the 1980’s, yet its clear that the southern shopping center is in the 500-year floodplain.